Tilden Regional Park, Regional Parks Botanic Garden

About The Park

The Regional Parks Botanic Garden was founded on January 1, 1940. Situated in Tilden Regional Park's beautiful Wildcat Canyon in the heart of the north Berkeley Hills, the garden is devoted to the collection, growth, display, and preservation of the native plants of California. The state is a vast region of many floral areas, such as seacoast bluffs and coastal mountains, interior valleys, arid foothills, alpine zones, and two kinds of desert. California embraces nearly 160,000 square miles - imagine 160,000 square miles of California set in a garden that can be walked in a day.

The public is welcome in this garden, which is open between the hours of 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. from October 1 to May 31, and 8:30 a.m. and 5:30 p.m. from June 1 to September 30. The garden is closed New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. All specimens are landscaped into a delightful setting, offering many enjoyable days of exploration, relaxation, and contemplation. To the student, the Botanic Garden offers the premier Northern California venue in which to study the state's native plants without wandering far from home or dorm. Indoors, in the Visitor Center, lectures and slide shows are scheduled on most Saturdays from November through February, and an exhibit pertaining to the native flora is usually to be found in the auditorium.

Notable among the many specimens that have been brought in from all corners of the state are representatives of nearly all the state's conifers and oaks, and probably the most complete collections of California manzanitas to be found anywhere. There are also extensive collections of California native bunchgrasses, bulbs, aquatic plants, and representatives of about 300 taxa that are classified in the California Native Plant Society's landmark study, "Inventory of Rare and Endangered Vascular Plants of California."

The Best Times for Blooms

Each year in the Botanic Garden the first plants to bloom do so around mid-December and early January, initiating a flowering succession that makes a continuous show for fully seven months. No month is devoid of plants of some attraction or other. The following schedule names the more prominent plants and the months in which they are usually at their best.

For more information on the Botanic Garden, classes, or events, visit Friends of the Regional Parks Botanic Garden web site at http://www.nativeplants.org/. For more information about volunteer opportunities, call the garden at (510) 544-3169.

Park Activities

The Regional Parks Botanic Garden holds its annual native plant sale on the third Saturday in April, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Bring cardboard boxes to carry your purchases. Refreshments will be available.

Enjoy free docent-guided garden tours most Saturdays at 2 p.m; Sundays at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. Meet at the Visitors Center. Group tours are available by appointment; call (510) 544-3169. Docent training is offered most years.

Park Accessibility

The Botanic Garden is partially accessible to persons with disabilities. This includes the bathrooms at the parking lot. The most accessible paths contour around the garden to right and left from the main entrance. Visitor Center is fully accessible to wheelchair users.